moments that i do cherish
since my rant about life being miserable here, several good things have happened. for one, this past weekend i visited juan-les-pins, the playground for young europeans seeking sex, sun, and sand (in the words of frommer's). i got to use a private beach owned by the family of the father of the child i'm nanny to. so i was told to lounge under a chaise longue and umbrella, and order anything i wanted because they would pick up the tab. so i ordered pina coladas and mojitos, mushroom and tomato pizzas, and back massages. i thought to myself as i basked in the fierce sun, 'it is not so bad to be the nanny for nobility' (full story later, but the family is indeed nobility, someday my brat kid will have the official title of 'count' and his wife will be a countess). i got to use a sea kayak too, it was really cool. the only problem is that, in true samantha fashion, i was wearing a silk head covering and it covered part of my forehead. so now i have this retarded forehead: half is my old skin color, and the lower half (as well as the rest of my body) is a deep bronze. hooray, i look like shit. lol, it's something only i could do, i will certainly post pics for your viewing pleasure later.
this weekend i also visited cannes, site of the very famous cannes film festival, and st. tropez, where tons upon tons of celebrities anchor their yachts and stroll the beaches. i liked both cities alot, they were very beautiful and chic. i would not live in either, but they were a pleasure to visit. cannes was one long parade of bentleys and rolls royces, and fabulously beautiful people shopping in stores like christian lacroix, fred, azzedine alaia, dolce and gabbana, and chanel. too much wealth for me. bleh. i also visited cap d'antibes, where houses go into the 100 million euro range, it was-of course-very pretty.
so i came back to work monday super revitalized and happy, and eagerly waiting for the weekend (only two more days now!) to take off again to some new adventure. then out of the blue, coriolan (the kid, the mini-count) started talking in english. at random! he came up to me and tugged at my hand and counted from one to ten, in very accented english (it fascinates me how, even as young as five years old, he already has a decidely french accent). his mum's birthday was last week so i taught him to say 'happy birthday, i love you'. he did this while giving his mom a flower and she was so delighted. then, just yesterday (a whole week later), he ran up to me while we were playing soccer in the park and gave me a huge hug and looked up into my eyes and said, ' i love you'. in english. my heart just melted, i really didn't think he would remember. they are like sponges at this age, it's astounding. he can also say run, red, flag, no, yes, stop, please, and thank you. his vocabulary is getting better each day because from 830 to 630 (my working hours) no matter what temper tantrums he throws or what language he speaks to me in (french, chinese, or italian), i only speak to him in english. I point to things and repeat myself alot, and enunciate clearly. he's picking up alot and it makes me immensely proud.
other beautiful achievements: one of the first things i did was teach him to wipe his ass after poopie. i was totally floored when, on my second day here, he called me to the restroom and matter-of-factly informed me he was finished pooping and i could now wipe his butt. i let out a long 'ha', because i do not wipe anyone's ass, for no amount of money. so i bent over in front of him and showed him how to do it, front to back. a few days later, at dinner, he announced he had to poop, and his grandma and mum made a fuss to get up and go help him clean himself but he proudly said, 'no i can do it myself, samantha taught me'. i was sooooooo proud of the little bugger. it was a glorious moment, but i can tell the mum wasn't too thrilled because she's reaaalllly into babying him (he is the only child and grandchild, thus the only heir to the countie title, thus a spoiled rotten sack of shit).
today we came back from touring a lovely little city called biot, where one of my favorite artists fernand leger lived and worked. it was very charming, and a great workout since it's in the mountains and everything is at a steep incline. coriolan ran to the bathroom upstairs while i made him lunch in the kitchen. then he started yelling for me so i ran up and almost fainted. the bathroom stunk soooooooooo bad! he was telling me, in desperate french, if i could make the bad smell go away (and it was indeed putrid, poor thing). so i showed him how to use air freshener, while i made funny faces to make him laugh and distract him from his misery. he was amazed by the minty smell and the swoosh noise of the spray, so he asked if he could do it himself. a deep believer in independance (and not babying), i put it in his little hand and went back to the kitchen. ten minutes later i went back to check on him, and once again my head almost exploded--this time with mint overload. he sprayed the ENTIRE can of air freshener. i gagged and opened the windows, trying to neutralize the overwhelming smell, to no avail. we had a great laugh, a great great laugh, as we gasped for fresh air together out of the window.
so those are some of my adventures. last night we watched shrek 2 with his grandma and mum, in french of course. i was saddened because the translation could not capture the american humor. for example, the part where the knights are chasing the white bronco (reference to o.j. simpson), the 'knights' TV show (reference to 'COPS'), the 'medieval entertainment' TV show (reference of course to 'E entertainment'), and the FAR FAR AWAY sign on the hills (reference to the Hollywood sign in LA), even the 'Funkytown' song, versarchery, the catnip........it's endless. they couldn't understand why the kingdom of far far away was the way it was, and i tried to explain that it was a clever portrayal of LA artifice, but my french only goes so far. so i was left to giggle wickedly while they furrowed their eyebrows in confusion. ah well, c'est la vie.